[Mithfânion]

Any relatively unknown books here you think other boarders should read? There are some names I'm not familiar with
http://www.mythsoc.org/MFAnoms.html

[Mithfânion]

After checking some out, I think The grey mane morning might be a very cool book.

[Steerpike]

I haven't read Grey Mane of Morning, but Red Moon and Black Mountain by the same writer is definitely worth reading. I think they are both set in the same world.

Grendel by John Gardner is Beowulf told from the monsters point of view.

Thomas Burnett Swann is an interesting and unique writer. Most of his stories are set in ancient historical times and usually are concerned with the fading of the old mythological order.

The Gift by Patrick O'Leary is on my to-read stack. http://www.samizdat.com/isyn/gift.html

[This message has been edited by Steerpike (edited March 23, 2002).]

[Mithfânion]

I've bought Grey mane of the Morning through a secondhand dealer, since the books are OOP. Red moon and black mountain seems very interesting as well, I think they're set a long time after GROM (wonderful title that), but in the same world as you say. About three kids that have duties to do of some importance in another world (like Kay or Donaldson's books?)

I was thinking of Thomas Burnett Swan when I first read that list. Primarily because the title "Forests of forever" really appeals to me. You wouldn't have read that one would you, or have a review of it handy on some site? Other books of him that might be great? The line about fading mythological orders draws like a magnet http://www.sffworld.com/ubb/wink.gif

[Mithfânion]

btw, how is "How are the mighty fallen" for a title! I love these titles Swann has.

[Steerpike]

The Forests of Forever is part of his Minotaur Trilogy. A review is here: http://wpl.lib.in.us/roger/MINT-SWN.html

I read three or four books of his years(decades) ago and enjoyed them, including Green Phoenix and The Weirwood. Sometimes the creatures are a little too cute though.

Ok, I copied the following from the web a long time ago. I can't find the website now.

". . .as a result of this commercialization I stopped reading fantasy for about five years. But recently I returned to the genre thanks to the works of one author. A writer to be cherished after the Middle-Earth and the Narnia and the Lankhmar books are read and re-read. That writer is Thomas Burnett Swann.

Thomas Burnett Swann (1928-1976) was a Professor of English at Florida Atlantic University, who, like Tolkien, wrote fiction in his spare time. He published poetry in the literary magazines, wrote books of erudition. His fantasy books number only eighteen but each is a gem in anybody's collection.

Swann set most of his novels in ancient historical times. Greece, Crete, Judea, Egypt, the Middle Ages, Celtic Britain and Etruria are the playgrounds of his half-animal heroes. Swann has a delightful pagan sense which is both poetic, sexual and deceptively readable. Beneath the sylvan glades lie deeper, mature themes which make the books worth reading over and over.

Swann's only series runs through four books, written in reverse order. The Day of the Minotaur, The Forest of Forever, Wolf Winter and Cry Silver Bells tell about the mythological denizens of the Greek forests who are slowly losing their homes to Man. This theme pervades most of Swann's work, focusing on the sense of loss and the dissipation of magic from our daily lives.

Two Swann books are set in Biblical times. Moondust recounts the fall of Jericho and the involvment of intelligent foxes who try to take over the Earth. How Are the Mighty Fallen tells the story of David and Goliath, a cyclops. David's homosexual relation with Jonathon is handled with brilliant skill and understanding. Elements of science fiction occasionally creep into Swann's work, but never intrude. He did write one straight sf novel, The Goat Without Horns, which supposes a race of ocean-dwelling humans. Whether set in the past or the future, Swann's fiction is always vibrant and touching."

[This message has been edited by Steerpike (edited March 25, 2002).]